I think I'm still pretty cool, but my kid begs to differ. I was hanging out with a young woman today who is in a black metal band. I told her that I'd love to join her band, but we would have to have our shows at around 5 or 6 PM, because I gotta be in bed by 9. She thought that was pretty funny. Heh, I ain't kidding.

I think I was 19 when Kurt Cobain died. I remember I was in the air force, and I was pregnant, and I was married. I was in the bathroom barfing when I heard my husband call out, "Hey! Do you know who Kurt Cobain is?" I said, "Yeah, why? Did he die or something?"

Grunge reached my little town when I was a senior ('92 rulz!). Mostly, I was a rocker chick. I lurved Def Leppard, man. I remember thinking that they rocked SO. FUCKING. HARD.

My first concert was Def Leppard and Tesla, followed by Poison and Britny Fox.

Throughout adolescence and young adulthood, I had my heart set on becoming a rock star. I didn't really plan for anything else. I also didn't bother to learn an instrument. I just sort of assumed that it would all fall in my lap and I'd be set for life. That could explain the fact that I'm 37, and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

I just turned 33 on the third. And just made my screen saver the Care Bears!! Yeah I love that I was a kid in the eighties.

I was on acid the night I heard that Kurt Cobain had died (I was 17).

The 90's were a great time however and I loved the whole Grunge thing (that is trying to make a come back). Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Screeming Trees,Mudhoney,Hole, The Murmers, Breeders, PJ Harvey, Tori Amos (although not grunge). Excellent Music!!

I think the class of 1996 was the class that just missed out on having mobile phones at school. I sometime wish that the things had never been invented because being a teenage now with all the crap the they think they need!! Ugh!!

I was lucky growing up that I never had Face book, Twitter or Myspace letting people know what I was up to ALL THE TIME (one of the reasons I'm not on Face Book) . And that I was never cyber bullied as no one had a computer. CD's were $30 and not available anywhere else but in a shop, and you had to socialize a whole lot more. Maybe I'm just rose tinted today but things seemed so much more simpler and fun!!

thanks, zoya. i feel a bit better today. i use facebook to find other tattoo artists' work i like. for most artists they really come into their own about 5 years in, but s, one of the girls at the shop is doing some pretty damn good work at 3 years in, and today i found another girl who is one year in and is amazing, so i'm gonna do what i can to be ahead of the curve one year, 3 years in, and just keep busting my ass, doing work for cheap so i can put that time in, since i'm in a boutique shop i don't get as much practice as someone in a street shop, so i'm gonna have to figure out a work around, but i figure i'll work twice as hard....

but thank you so much for your email, and the note. come up and visit again soon, k? hopefully in a few years, i'll be able to guest spot down near you for a while.... [wub]

--------------------

"what a swell farewell party! we said goodbye to everything, including the lining in my stomach." - garvey, from the film, born bad

"That's one career all females have in common, whether we like it or not: being a woman. Sooner or later, we've got to work at it, no matter how many other careers we've had or wanted." --margo channing, all about eve

GT - we work in similar industries, people-wise, so needless to say, that happens to me all the time as well. The only tactic I have come up with is to just not think about my age and just keep moving onward, being myself. I know that sounds so ridiculously pollyanna-ish, but I cannot think of any other way to articulate it. I totally go there in my head when I start to think about just what you described below and then I get all fatalistic, like "WTF am I trying to do??!!" but I gotta remind myself, if I am working with all these people who are younger and yet just assume I'm "one of them" I must have SOMETHING goin on... (so much mind over matter... haha)

in the last week i've discovered about how old everyone i the shop is. {head desk} i shouldn't complain because they seem to think i'm in my late 20's. but when r was talking about how she felt like she was coming to tattooing late because she started when she was 27, i nearly choked. i'm still an apprentice, and i'm 5 years older than the oldest person at the shop. {sigh} the worst part is that tattooing is one of those fields where you can only be as good as the time you put in. i feel like i'm always gonna be behind the 8 ball.

--------------------

"what a swell farewell party! we said goodbye to everything, including the lining in my stomach." - garvey, from the film, born bad

"That's one career all females have in common, whether we like it or not: being a woman. Sooner or later, we've got to work at it, no matter how many other careers we've had or wanted." --margo channing, all about eve

"French cinema seems to make these fantastic stories about women in my age group, women that are dynamic, and are going forward and carrying on being alive and not just sitting back watching everything go on around them. They're stories about women, not about what those women once were."

Holy shit...I just watched this movie with these youngish looking people all old enough to drive cars...AND THEY WERE IN THE FIRST GRADE IN 1996!!!!

There are people who were not even born or thought of yet when I was in my college years and they are old enough to drive fucking cars. *completely floored by this sudden jolt out of my world of denial*

--------------------

"The U.S. is the only nation on Earth to pass from barbarism into decadence without once passing through an era of civilization."

I'm always having to remind myself that the 1960s weren't just "20 years ago"...I think of that era as the very recent past still...and I can no longer tell people's ages anymore. Seriously, I look at people really hard to tell if they're just 16 or if they're 24, or whatever.

I'm always having to remind myself that the 1960s weren't just "20 years ago"...I think of that era as the very recent past still...and I can no longer tell people's ages anymore. Seriously, I look at people really hard to tell if they're just 16 or if they're 24, or whatever.

--------------------

"The U.S. is the only nation on Earth to pass from barbarism into decadence without once passing through an era of civilization."

Hehe! I had my rude "you are not so young anymore" awakening a couple years ago when I was at a street festival-stopped in a tavern to use the bathroom. There was a long line to get in the women's room. There was a woman in line in front of me who was probably in her early 20s. So the line moved up and the 20-something woman went in the bathroom. Then the woman behind me (maybe in her fifties) poked me on the arm and said, "is she your daughter?"

By the way, I am 42 so I suppose I technically could've been her mother-I just don't think of myself as that age!

I also work with kids and teenagers - I still sometimes double take when I see their birthdays in the 90's and 00's. Has it really been that long since I wore lumberjack shirts and purple nail polish, that these kids are the same age I was? Has it really been that long since Shirley Manson, Elastica and The Breeders? My BF told me that yes, I am indeed an aging hipster. Just have to own it and embrace it, eh.

This part made me laugh 'cause I ran into the same situation at my former workplace. Or, that I know people who are 80s babies. Crazy.

Sukouyant, I noticed an increase in my attention to vitamins, health, and such after I turned 30. Funny thing, I feel like I'm 16 some days. I think my outlook on life is why some people still think I'm in my mid 20s. That or I act really immature. I think how you feel about yourself on the inside really does have an impact on your "youthfulness."

I think the one thing I've been attaching to age is certain status symbols in society like marriage and children. I definitely knew I did not want those things at the age of 25. I had a few brief moments recently where I wanted kids and a wedding (yes, there is difference between a wedding and a marriage). BUT, I find that I still feel "meh" about those things. Yeah, I want a relationship, but, that's about it. When I look at some people who are married and/or with kids, I'm think..."I'm 35, still single, and child free." And for as far as women has come in our society in terms of choice, I still feel like an anomaly especially when I hear women talk about "biological clock" stuff 'cause I just don't work from a place of fear. Maybe I'm still dealing with shame that there are things I want for me, experiences, career, etc....

Not sure if I'm really making sense, but, these are things that have been weighing on my mind lately. Thanks for starting up this thread again, sukouyant.

Yeah we're close in age koffeewitch. Older people are just starting to treat me as an adult in public places, teenagers' eyes are glazing over when they see me now, since I'm irrelevant in their cosmos. I'm starting to think about my Calcium intake, frailty, all of that..I'm thinking it helps talking with older people who can laugh in one's face when we start worrying TOO much. (I was talking with a friend of mine who's in his late 60's about my anxiety over possibly having kids and shrieked "I'm practically menopausal!" At least he got me to laugh at myself.)

I also work with kids and teenagers - I still sometimes double take when I see their birthdays in the 90's and 00's. Has it really been that long since I wore lumberjack shirts and purple nail polish, that these kids are the same age I was? Has it really been that long since Shirley Manson, Elastica and The Breeders? My BF told me that yes, I am indeed an aging hipster. Just have to own it and embrace it, eh.

You and me both. I recently hit the exalted age of 37, the end of the "mid-thirties" and the beginning of the LATE 30s. The big 40 looms right around the corner and I need to chart my own way into the so-called mature years. I'm getting obsessed with looking at other people my age, celebs included...and even rating my "youthfulness" . This inspite of the fact that I despise our culture's obsession with extreme youth, botox, and throw-away plastic convenience in general. It's freaky to be closing in on 40, but hell, I like to think that someday i'm gonna be a wicked bad-ass crone.

--------------------

"The U.S. is the only nation on Earth to pass from barbarism into decadence without once passing through an era of civilization."

I'm intrigued by this blog - http://thefemininetouch.blogspot.com it's almost entirely devoted to posting portraits of young female celebrities (artists, actresses etc.) alongside images of how they've aged. A recent post is about "vintage" celebrities famous for their beauty, alongside modern look-a-likes; another one is about how they've been seen through painter's eyes vs photographers, the rest seem to be entirely about youth and age.

holy shit. I didn't know that Christie Brinkley was 54.... yeah so she's got cash and maybe a wee bit of nip and tuck, but nip and tuck can only take you so far... Actually I didn't know that quite a few of these people were in thier 50's - and well into them, at that. Makes me feel like a youngster in my late 30s.... (well considering all my friends are in their mid -late 20's I guess I am a youngster...heh)